\nBut within 48 hours after Republican Senator John McCain named her his vice presidential running mate, the country\u2019s intense media spotlight was at work trying to find out who she was.
\nFirst, there was the matter of an ongoing investigation in Alaska after she fired her public safety commissioner amidst his refusal to fire her brother-in-law. She claimed the man, who was a state trooper in the midst of a messy divorce from her sister, had threatened her family.
\nThe results of the probe into whether she unduly used her power to influence a family matter are to be released in October, before the Nov 4 elections, when McCain will face Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Palin has reportedly hired a lawyer to represent her during the probe.
\nThen, on Monday, news of the pregnancy of Palin\u2019s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, leapt into the headlines.
\nThis, while the McCain campaign was trying to tone down partisan politics at its all-important nominating convention in St. Paul, Minnesota out of respect for the major natural disaster of Hurricane Gustav unfolding on the country\u2019s southern coast.
\nYet the story of Bristol\u2019s pregnancy and her mother\u2019s opposition to sex education in school and advocacy of abstinence quickly commanded attention.
\nResponding to internet rumours about her daughter, Palin and her husband Todd issued a statement confirming that their daughter Bristol was five months pregnant.
\n\u201cOur beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,\u201d the couple said.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re proud of Bristol\u2019s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.\u201d
\nThe Palins said Bristol and \u201cthe young man (Levi) she will marry are going to realise very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family\u201d.
\nPalin, a mother of five, is an outspoken opponent of abortion, and her choice by McCain was seen as a pitch to conservative Republicans uneasy about the nomination of the more centrist senator.
\nThe Palins asked the media to respect their family\u2019s privacy.
\nAlthough Palin\u2019s lack of national experience has been criticised by Democrats, Obama drew the line Monday about jumping into the fray over the daughter\u2019s pregnancy.
\n\u201cI have said this before and I will repeat again. I believe people\u2019s families are off limits. People\u2019s children are especially off limits,\u201d he said in broadcast remarks. \u201cThis should not be part of our politics.\u201d
\nObama noted that his mother was only 18 when he was born.
\nHe energetically refuted that his campaign was involved in internet rumours that Bristol was in fact the mother of Palin\u2019s four-month-old baby, Trig, who suffers Down\u2019s Syndrome.
\n\u201cOur people were not involved in any way in this. If I ever thought someone in my campaign was involved in something like that they\u2019d be fired,\u201d Obama said.
\nBristol carried the baby during Friday\u2019s vice presidential announcement.
\nCritics were raising questions about McCain\u2019s judgement in selecting Palin as his vice presidential candidate, and wondered about Palin\u2019s judgement in accepting the offer when she knew her child would be subjected to the media spotlight.
\nMcCain\u2019s spokesperson Tucker Bounds said McCain knew about both issues – the investigation into Palin as well as Bristol\u2019s pregnancy – before naming her his running mate.
\nOne Alaska state senator, asked by CNN what he thought about the pregnancy issue, said the situation only showed that Palin was human.
\nBounds defended Palin\u2019s executive and foreign experience, saying she had commanded Alaska\u2019s national guard during her two years as governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"